


You Don't Know

by noodlerdoodler



Series: Drabbles for Davekatweek [5]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-18 20:37:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4719611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlerdoodler/pseuds/noodlerdoodler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat has short term memory loss and can never remember anything the next day. Dave deals. </p>
<p>Day Five: Alternative Universe</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Don't Know

**Author's Note:**

> It's kinda like 50 First Dates but totally lame.
> 
> Also, lazily written because I suck. 
> 
> Title from the Next to Normal song because I'm trash >:P

He's used to it by now, getting up early in the morning to find that Karkat is wandering the house and looking incredibly confused about it, as if he's never seen it before. Sometimes, he seems frightened whilst other times, he just looks confused like he's stumbled into a stranger's house. No matter what, he always looks Dave over and snorts dismissively. 

"Hey Karkat." Dave always says, to see if he can remember his own name today. When it comes to his name, it's an on/off kind of deal. Sometimes, he remembers his full name- middle name included- and his birthday and his favourite movie. Sometimes, he can't remember a single thing. 

"Who the fuck are you?" Karkat says, on this day in particular, and he glares at him suspiciously, "Where the fuck am I? How did I get here? I just woke up on the couch and I don't... I don't..." 

"You don't remember." Dave says calmly, "Honey, you never remember."

"Am I supposed to know who the hell you are?" 

"It would be nice if you did for once." Dave shrugs and approaches, taking his boyfriend carefully by the hand and leading him upstairs to their bedroom, "I'm Dave. I'm your boyfriend. We've been together for around three years." But you never remember me, he wants to complain, and it's scary as fuck sometimes. 

"You're my boyfriend?" Karkat blinks at him, as Dave drops his hand and begins looking through the closet for fresh clothes for his boyfriend. After all, he can't just let him wander around in his underwear all day. He tosses him a sweater followed by some pants and turns to see if it's triggered any memories. 

Sometimes, touching familiar things will remind Karkat of something. It's rare for it to happen but just the other day, Dave had taken him to the supermarket and had to deal with his boyfriend suddenly seeming to snap awake in the aisle for a moment. And he'd tugged frantically on Dave's arm, trying to draw his attention away from the Doritos. 

"What's up, sweetheart?" 

"Dave, we met in a supermarket." That got Dave's attention properly and he turned to his boyfriend, patting him on the shoulder with pride. Karkat was grinning up at him, like he was glad he could remember. Dave was just glad that he was wearing sunglasses so that the smaller boy couldn't see the tears forming in his eyes. 

"Yeah. You remember how?" 

".... No." Karkat's face fell. 

"Don't worry. It comes back to you in bits and pieces. It's okay." Dave said, "You used to work in this store, remember? And I was the asshole that was screwing around and playing dominos with bottles of apple juice. And you flipped your tits and screamed at me." 

"Do I yell at you a lot, Dave?" 

"Yep. You're kind of crabby. You yell at everybody a lot; it's kind of your thing." 

"Oh." 

However, there's nothing today because Karkat just stares at him blankly as he pulls his sweater on over his head. Dave can barely stop a loud sigh from escaping him because this can get very tiring day after day. Nothing ever changes too much- not since he started getting careful to lock the majority of the doors. 

A few times before, Karkat had managed to escape out into the world and somehow managed to make his way to the nearest city- which was an hour or two away- before Dave noticed. There had always been mass panic, whenever it had been discovered that he'd lost Karkat. Luckily, whenever Karkat did get loose, he nearly always headed straight for Kanaya's apartment. She always called to inform Dave that he'd arrived safely but still didn't remember anything. 

And then would come the lecture that Dave was legally responsible for his boyfriend and if he got out of hand again, he would get in trouble. Recently, he had been making sure to keep all the doors locked tightly because he only had one more chance before Karkat got taken away from him. Nothing interesting has happened since. 

"Dave?" Karkat experiments, trying the word out in his mouth and deciding he likes it. 

"Yeah?" Dave looks at him. 

"We live in a big house." 

"Yeah." 

"Do we work?" 

"Not anymore." Not since the accident- since then, neither of them had worked. Karkat couldn't work for obvious reasons and Dave couldn't really leave him alone like this. He'd hoped that things would one day get better but so far, there'd been very little progress. It had been nearly a year and Karkat was still a stranger in his own home day after day. 

"How come we can afford such a big house then?" 

"Got lots of money in the bank. I was a big shot movie producer for a while, remember?" 

"You aren't anymore?" 

"Somebody's got to stick around to look after you." 

"Right." 

After they're both dressed and Karkat has been talked through the basics- "Your name is Karkat Cancri Vantas and you have a dad, a brother, a boyfriend and a gay best friend called Kanaya. She lives in the city with her girlfriend. That's my sister. You introduced them. You have some weird crush on Will Smith and you like video games but you really fucking suck at them."- it's time for breakfast. Alternatively called: cereal and a glass of AJ each. 

"Don't you have an apple juice fetish or something?" Karkat says, watching him pour the drinks. Sparing him a small smile, Dave shrugs. 

"Yeah, something like that." 

"Do we always have this for breakfast?" 

"No, sometimes we have tacos." 

"I think I like tacos." Karkat says, scrunching up his nose as he thinks it over. Dave can't help but chuckle as he sits down opposite him and begins to eat his breakfast. 

"You do like tacos." Dave confirms.

"Do we stay here all day?" Karkat wonders aloud. 

"That depends on if you want to go out today. Sometimes, you want to stay in." 

"Can we go out today?" 

"Sure. Where do you wanna go?" 

"Can we go and visit Kanaya?" 

"Sure thing, honey." 

"Is she nice?" 

"She's the nicest." Unfortunately, this does mean seeing Rose as well as Kanaya, which is not something that Dave wants to do. But if his boyfriend actually wants to leave the house for once, he's sure as hell not going to argue with him. They normally stay in day after day and that can get exhausting- ridiculous as it sounds. 

So, after breakfast, they pack up and head out for the city. It's not too far away by car, especially with Dave driving fast on the endless stretches of empty road. As much as he hates having to visit his sister, he's always glad to visit Kanaya. She's the nicest person he's ever met and she cooks this wonderful spicy food, that she says her mama makes for her back home. It's the only chance Dave gets to eat home cooked food. 

"Dave, do we really do this every single day?" 

"Do what every day? We haven't visited Kanaya in weeks." 

"Do we do this thing where I forget and you don't, every single day?"

"Of course. We've done it every day since the accident." Maybe Karkat sees the way that Dave actively flinches at the word because he doesn't dare inquire further and they sit most of the ride in silence. The only noise is Karkat flipping through their CD collection and trying to guess which ones are his and which ones are Dave's. It's amusing to watch him get it wrong ("Are you seriously telling me I like classical music?" "Hey, dude, I don't judge you for it or anything"). 

When they reach Kanaya's apartment, Karkat suddenly seems to recognise something because his eyes light up the way that they always seem to. It's so unlike the old Karkat that Dave winces and just gets out of the car to help him out. His boyfriend looks up at the fancy apartment building and says in wonder:

"This is where Kanaya lives. I remember." 

"You do? That's great." And it is great- for now- but tomorrow, it will all be forgotten again and that can be painful. They head inside together and into the elevator and Karkat dares to slip his hand into Dave's, uncertain of the action. His hand is warm and his grip is tight as it always is. 

"Hey Dave." 

"Yeah?" 

"Do we ever- woah!" He's distracted by the gorgeous apartment that belongs to fashion designer, Kanaya Maryam, and her girlfriend, the therapist, Rose Lalonde. The two women immediately approach and take it in turns to hug them both tightly. Kanaya's soft and gentle as always, smiling kindly at them, but Rose has a malicious smirk. 

"I see he's forgotten again." She whispers in Dave's ear. 

"Don't say it."

"Do you need any help?" 

"Don't you dare use your dumb therapy on me. I'm fine." They draw away from each other and Kanaya leads the group through to the dining room, speaking avidly with Karkat as she does so. There's food laid out on the table, fancy food that Dave practically starts drooling over straight away. God, sometimes he forgets how much he loves Kanaya's cooking. His sister moves to pour the tea and they all take their respective seats. 

"It's nice to meet you, Kanaya." Karkat says and Dave watches the Muslim girl's face visibly fall. 

"It's nice to meet you too, Karkat." She replies, stiffly, "This is my girlfriend, Rose." 

"Hello." Rose says, politely, "Dave, drink your tea." 

"Why, have you drugged it?" He raises an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Don't be an idiot. Karkat will think we're drug dealers." Because Karkat doesn't know any better, Dave replies silently, but he takes the tea from her and sips at it. It's one of those exotic teas that his sister drinks to relax and he almost spits it back into the cup because it's disgusting. But he forces himself to swallow, earning himself a look of approval. 

"So, how are you, Karkat?" Rose is quick to put on the part of the therapist and Dave lets her play it, watching in mild amusement for a while. Eventually, though, Kanaya rises to her feet to head to the kitchen and gestures for Dave to follow her. 

"I see he's not recovering in the slightest. It's been a year, Dave. He may need some professional help." 

"Nah, it's cool, Maryam. I got it." 

"Are you quite sure about that?" 

"I'm certain." 

"I'm amazed you're coping so well with all this." 

"Yeah, so am I." 

"If you ever need help-" 

"I know to come to you, Kanaya." 

Later, when they've successfully eaten Kanaya and Rose out of house and home, they finally head home. Karkat is positively beaming the way that he used to and it tugs at Dave's heartstrings but he doesn't dare kiss him, when Karkat thinks they just met today. He does let his hand rest on top of his in the car, however, and when they get home, he wraps an arm around him as they head inside. 

"Do you want to watch one of your movies, Karkat?" 

"No. I'm... I'm tired." Karkat yawns on cue and presses his head against Dave's shoulder. 

"Bed, then?" 

"Yeah." It's only as they're climbing into bed that Karkat pauses, "Dave?"

"Yup?" 

"I'm not going to remember any of this in the morning, am I?" 

"Probably not." 

"Sorry." 

"It's okay. I love you." 

"I think I love you too."


End file.
